Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-10-31
Letter From Southern California.


MIA, perhaps it will be interesting tC
| hear from some one who is not inter
ested to boom the country, one who
does not own real estate here, OF
some things that are not pleas
ant, so that the people who emigrate
from your vicinity may not expect to
find an earthly paradise, even in
Southern California.
AS far as | can see nearly every
papers business printed here is to
boom the country, that is, everything
favorable OF that will please, with in
tent to draw people here, and by no
means to mention or discuss that
which is disagreeable or unfavorable
to the place.
Land is very high here. Desirable
residence lots from $3.50 to $500. |
have vet to learn of the first instance
of a man becoming wealthy in the le-
ultimate business of tilling the soil.
But men in this country have increas-
ed their property by the rise in land
and by specializing in the same. |
heard a comparatively poor man say
the other day that the boom had
struck him and that it was hardly
possible for him to keep from buying
land at prices that he knew would
not pay the interest by cultivating
the soil. In fact the ''boOm'' is here
and it is hard to resist it. Not only
men, but women have taken to buy
ing real estate for speculative pur-
poses. But they have the biggest
time in taking farms, or ranches, as
they are called here, and dividing
and sub-dividing them and then sell
ING them for town lots.
What would you think if a man
who owned a farm four miles from
Barton Village should divide his land
into pieces 50x100 feet, and pillow
a furrow around each piece, grade
the land little and lay out roads, land
get plans for an elegant hotel COM
pleted, then advertise largely, APP
point a day to sell these lots at auc-
ton, run excursion trains from all
points to Barton, have free carriages
run from Barton to the place of sale
and furnish a free lunch on the
ground? This is a fac simile of what
we have here every few days. We
buy these lots, in the desert, as it
were. waiting for the eastern man to
come and take them off their hands.
So YOU see that if it were not for the
Tender Feet coming here with
money made in other places, the
Westerner could not thrive as he does
now.
A great many people come here
for their health, when they are near
" gone with consumption. | have
known number of such cases and
after they had spent some time, and
a deal of money, they have returned
home to die, and some of them did
not live to get home. | have heard
persons say that they hoped they
should not die here. Some that have
died in the morning have been buried
in the evening, and they did not die
with small poX either. We hear very
little in the papers about people be-
ing sick, or what diseases cause death,
but if one person kills another, or
commits suicide, all the particulars
are in the next paper.
There is usually no rainfall here
| for nine months in the year, and last
year we had only one rain that wet
the ground sufficiently for blowing,
making irrigation a necessity. The
papers and the people say that the
water system of Riverside is admira-
! bic and abundant, one of the best in
! the state. But we have been cult
waiting land with a full water right
in this place for the past two years.
Last year we were troubled some to
get water when it was needed, and
this year we could not get nearly the
amount that was needed for the crops.
We spent a good deal of time going to
the water office, but were usually put
off with promises that were not full
filed.
The heat in this place is usually
severe from June to October. / act
ually dread stepping on to this "Sun-
nv Land" in the heat of the day.
One can not tell much about the de-
gree of heat and cold by reading the
notices in the papere of the ''mean
temperature of a place. The nights
are so cold here that it misleads one
in regard to the heat of the day. In
the winter at Riverside the mercury
will average 40 at sunrise-once in a
number of years it gets as low as %
10 at noon and so at night. In
San Bernardino county Il mean Riv-
erside and vicinity there visits us,
every month or two, what is called
a 'snortherner" The wind comes
sweeping down from the north, MAX
ing it very disagreeable. We can see
clouds of dust rising from our ave
nues miles away. When these
"northerners' are in full blast many
of the people are afflicted with the
headache or hard colds, but | am glad
to say that the north wind only lasts
from two to three days, | leave it
for other hands to write up the at
fractions of this place, of which there